Sarvenaz Tash's Blog, page 36
February 28, 2011
Whoaaaa, Looks Like We Made It
I've pretty much maintained that I've always, always wanted to be a writer ever since the phrase "what do you want to be when you grow up" came into my life and consciousness.
I think it's time to confess that is not entirely true. The fact is there was a year in my life, the third grade to be exact, where I desperately wanted to be something else.
I wanted to be...a member of Kids Incorporated.
Unless you grew up during a very specific few years in the 80s and had the Disney Channel, you might ...
I think it's time to confess that is not entirely true. The fact is there was a year in my life, the third grade to be exact, where I desperately wanted to be something else.
I wanted to be...a member of Kids Incorporated.
Unless you grew up during a very specific few years in the 80s and had the Disney Channel, you might ...
February 25, 2011
The Doubt Monster World Tour
As a soon-to-be-published writer, I know I'm supposed to be my own greatest advocate. I should be promoting myself and my work, stirring up excitement for my book, sending out happy good vibes into the digiverse at all times, etc.
As a regular old writer though, it's difficult for me not to still fall under the spell of The Doubt Monster, which - unlike The Fame Monster - is NOT glamorous, universally revered and often pantsless. It is, however, way, way scarier than anything I ever thought li...
As a regular old writer though, it's difficult for me not to still fall under the spell of The Doubt Monster, which - unlike The Fame Monster - is NOT glamorous, universally revered and often pantsless. It is, however, way, way scarier than anything I ever thought li...
February 24, 2011
Paperback Writer
Yesterday, I saw Beatles tribute band Rain on Broadway. Now, normally, I am very, very wary about any sort of Beatles cover band, but I had heard enough amazing things about them to decide to give it a shot. To my great surprise, I very much enjoyed the show and even got goosebumps during a few key numbers. And then I started thinking about how The Beatles came into my life.
This post could be subtitled 'How My Love of Books Led to My Love of The Beatles.'
And it goes something like this: the ...
This post could be subtitled 'How My Love of Books Led to My Love of The Beatles.'
And it goes something like this: the ...
February 23, 2011
Author Journeys: Alan Bradley
I recently fell in love with a character in a book: Ms. Flavia de Luce of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia is 11; lives in a rambling mansion in a 1950s English countryside; has an affinity for chemistry, specifically poisons; and gets involved in solving a mystery when a dead man appears in her cucumber patch.I'm very much of the opinion that Flavia and Goldenrod, the 11-year-old protagonist of my novel, would be very good friends if an ocean, a few decades, and a publishing ...
February 22, 2011
The Apocalypse Is Looking Pretty Good Right About Now
A few weeks ago I joined a group of 2012 debut children's authors called the Apocalypsies. Their motto is 'Read 'Em Like There's No Tomorrow.' They are awesome.
One of the writers who helps run the group is debut YA author Gretchen McNeil. Gretchen was originally supposed to have her novel, Possess, come out in Winter 2012 (same literary season as me). But then her publishers switched things around and, instead, her book will be coming out on August 23, 2011! She has been dubbed the harbinger ...
One of the writers who helps run the group is debut YA author Gretchen McNeil. Gretchen was originally supposed to have her novel, Possess, come out in Winter 2012 (same literary season as me). But then her publishers switched things around and, instead, her book will be coming out on August 23, 2011! She has been dubbed the harbinger ...
February 21, 2011
King Author
Last week was one of ups and downs. My apartment ceiling started dripping, then raining, and then eventually collapsing. Things at my day job were a bit on the mad side. And to top it all off, I had just gotten back from a gloriously relaxing Florida vacation and wasn't ready to be so unceremoniously dumped into the harsher New Yorkness of New York.
But then some amazing things happened, too. The most amazing was that I got called author multiple times. First my editor sent a mass e-mail to a...
But then some amazing things happened, too. The most amazing was that I got called author multiple times. First my editor sent a mass e-mail to a...
February 19, 2011
Even Twitter Can't Stop the Rambler In Me
A few days ago, I noticed this trending topic on Twitter: #sixwordnovels.
I couldn't refrain from jumping on a literary TT, so I tweeted this:
I couldn't refrain from jumping on a literary TT, so I tweeted this:
Girls die out. Boys attempt survival.I volunteer with an organization called Girls Write Now, where they pair a professional female writer as a mentor to a teen female writer from an under-served NYC school. A few hours after I tweeted the above, I was meeting with my mentee and we were talking about genre-writing. In particular, we were doing an exercis...
February 17, 2011
My Manuscript Just Called Me a Dingbat, a.k.a. Adventures in Copyediting
On Tuesday, I arrived to a rather thick envelope at my door. It was the copyedited version of my manuscript.
Here are a few things I didn't know. These are literally the pages of the manuscript that both my editor and the copy editor have gone over, probably at least a couple of times each. So it looks a little, shall we say, loved - in the Velveteen Rabbit sense of the word.
Secondly, each of them have used a different colored pencil to make their edits. Now my job is to go through with yet an...
Here are a few things I didn't know. These are literally the pages of the manuscript that both my editor and the copy editor have gone over, probably at least a couple of times each. So it looks a little, shall we say, loved - in the Velveteen Rabbit sense of the word.
Secondly, each of them have used a different colored pencil to make their edits. Now my job is to go through with yet an...
